The Last Sundancer (50 page)

They faced death, even as they sought to secure their birthright and defend their village.  Amara laid the belt out to dry as she listened to the night sounds around them. 

The men shifted constantly as they guarded the small fire where she and Denoa would sleep.  The nights were cold, far colder than they had been only a short while ago. 

Soon, the time of long cold would be upon them.  Would they live to see it or would this be their last night of life?  Amara lifted her eyes to the starry heavens in entreaty.  If she were truly Cloud Bringing Woman then perhaps her voice would be heard and her plea for the safekeeping of their loved ones, answered. 

Kaichen was near.  Amara could sense him long before he came into view.  She knew that he watched over them as the men took their turn keeping guard.  It was the darkest part of the night, the time when even the animals were lulled into some semblance of quiet. Denoa slept near the fire, wrapped in a blanket that she had offered to share. 

Amara glanced up from the garment that she worked to soften and when Kaichen came into view she quickly set her work aside.

“Amara…” The sound of her name upon his lips caused her heart to
race but she did not look away.

His eyes caused her skin to burn, wherever his gaze lingered.  Amara’s heart leapt when Kaichen walked forward and reached out his hand.  She placed her stained fingers against his palm as he urged her to stand.

Kaichen knew that he should stay far away from Amara.  Oddly enough it was Antuk that had reasoned with him on the matter. 

“Is she not your wife, lifemate of your hearth though you have no hearth to claim?” Antuk’s question made Kaichen smile.  Only his friend would point out that he had yet to lay his head upon one place and claim it as his own.

“Amara is my wife.” Kaichen’s words were meant to remind Antuk of all that had occurred, but they only served to make him consider why he remained apart from Amara. 

Everything inside of him yearned to go to her and lay claim to that which was his. 

“But if you die tomorrow, will it be with regret in your heart?” Antuk spoke of Kaichen’s death as if it would simply become a mere interruption in the course of his day.

Kaichen’s chest
filled with frustrated laughter.  This was the friend of his youth. 

He started to respond to Antuk, but as was often the case his friend’s attention had turned elsewhere.  Now Antuk’s words spun around in Kaichen’s mind, causing him to reconsider the path that he had chosen. 

What right did he have to make such a choice for Amara?  Was he wrong to consider the way that she had clung to him when he carried her down from the ledge?  Was he wrong to believe that she yearned for him, just as he yearned for her?

It was best to leave her untouched in case death found him
during the battle to come.  Yet, he could no longer ignore the hunger in his soul.  Every look, every glance from Amara’s amber flecked gaze, caused him to ache as a man aches for a woman.  But what he felt for her went deeper than mere yearning. 

He wanted to claim Amara as
his wife, he wanted the joining and mating of their bodies.  His conscience forced him to make certain that Amara knew that she had a choice in the matter.  She did not have to come with him if it was not her choice. 

He remembered that she had suffered abuse at the hands of her captors, men
that were bent upon taking that which did not belong to them.  Those men had viewed Amara as a mere possession. 

Kaichen remembered the fear in Amara’s
eyes when he had first rescued her and he used the same words now as he had then.  “Will you come with me willingly?”

It was her choice.  He would not withdraw his protecti
on if she chose not to respond in the way that he hoped. 

When Kaichen had first spoken these words to her, Amara had not understood his language.   But now, as she stared up into his steady gaze, she ached to become a wife in all ways to this man that had quietly laid siege to her heart. 

Amara could not say when she had come to love Kaichen.  Had it been on the day that he had first rescued her from men bent on taking her away from all that she had ever known? 

Had it been the moment when he had forsaken his own thirst to sate hers?  Perhaps love had bloomed within her heart during her time on the ledge when all hope had been lost.  She had known in her soul that Kaichen would return to her, that he would keep his promise and that only death could keep him away. 

“Yes, I will come with you.  I am your lifemate and I wish to be joined to you in all ways.  You had only to ask.” Amara’s words were murmured against the soft press of Kaichen’s ear. 

From the moment that she had begun to
form her answer, he pulled her close and she clung to his lithe frame.  The muscular planes of his body called out to the womanly softness within her. 

His arms encircled her waist, bracing he
r against his chest as she whispered into his ear.  She did not have any reason not to tell Kaichen all that weighed upon her heart.

Nor did she ha
ve need of soft words or pretty phrases as he pressed his lips to the hollow of her neck and simply inhaled.  Warmth pooled within her belly as he breathed in her essence and reveled in the feel of her body. 

Kaichen’s mouth covered hers as he lifted her into his arms.  Though Amara expected to feel the full possession of his kiss
, she was stunned by what happened next.  Instead of pressing his mouth to hers and exploring the depths within, Kaichen urged her lips open and then gently exhaled until his breath mingled with hers. 

Stars of light exploded behind Amara’s closed eyes as sensation flooded her body, drowning out all thought.  A sound came to her from a great distance and she realized that it was her voice lifted in a murmur of pleasure as Kaichen walked into the beckoning darkness, leaving the fire and its occupants behind. 

Kaichen did not glance around and he did not look behind him.  If he had spared a glance, he would have noticed the familiar bulk of Antuk as the man kept to the shadows, ever watchful. 

“What happens when Cloud Bringing Woman and the last Sundancer become one?
One born of power is created.” Antuk spoke to himself as he watched over Kaichen’s sleeping mother.  No one was nearby to hear him speak but his smile was full of hope for their future as he chuckled to himself. “What will this one be called?”

Antuk did not need an answer. 

Only time would share such knowledge and that ageless one remained silent.  If Azin could see him now, then his uncle would surely know pride in all that his nephew had accomplished.  Antuk kept watch, just as he was known to do and in his heart, he laughed. 

Darkness lingered upon the land, bringing drifts of wind and swirling sand.  The fire which had kept Denoa warm throughout the night was carefully smothered and all traces of its presence removed. 

Tamol
ordered his men to the high cliffs and he watched as each man faded into the distance.  He was painted just as his men were with the colors of the desert sand.  Even their hair was covered, so that only the whites of their eyes showed up against the red rocks which gave them shelter.

Denoa searched for Amara as she tried to ignore the aches of her body. 

“Today, I feel my age upon me.” Her voice was a whisper, meant only to spur her body into motion. 

“Today is a good day to face all that I have become, all that I truly am.”
Tamol’s presence surprised Denoa and she shifted to face him directly, as she would an enemy.

“It is never too late to turn back and choose a new
path.” Denoa did not know why she chose to repeat Shale’s words but she knew that she owed a debt of gratitude to Tamol. He had chosen to fight on her son’s side against the raiders. She made a silent vow to seek peace between their bands, no matter the outcome of the battle with the raiders.  It was enough. 

It was all Tamol could do to keep his focus on the battle to come.
  His heartbeat remained steady as Denoa turned her eyes away from him.  He no longer hoped that Denoa would turn to him for comfort or security.  Regret walked beside Tamol with every step that he took away from the woman that he loved.

Kaichen’s heart was full to the point of bursting.  The time that he had spent with Amara had been too short, but every moment was treasured, every touch remembered.   The joining of their bodies
had only solidified the bonding of two souls.  He gently deposited his wife at his mother’s side and allowed warmth to spread through his heart at Denoa’s welcoming smile.

“I see that my son and daughter have returned.” Denoa’s words were welcome and Ama
ra went easily into her embrace, both women supported each other as they looked at Kaichen.

Kaichen’s gaze lingered upon Amara
before he turned to face Antuk.  His friend eyed the approaching figure of Pele with barely disguised annoyance.  

“He is like a grain of sand caught between the toes.” Antuk spoke loudly, even as Pele frowned when all eyes turned to watch his approach.

“I thought that you had returned to your home with the men of your band that decided not to fight at our side.” Kaichen’s voice held a question and then he gasped as he caught sight of those that walked behind Pele.

“You disobeyed me.” Tamol’s voice was full of fury and threat.

Pele stood tall as his father stalked toward him.  “What do you mean?”

“I told you to leave Farren and his band alone.  Now you have dragged even more men into this fight.” Tamol glared at his son, but Pele did not flinch under his father’s withering stare.

“I did what I thought was right.” Pele would not budge from his determined stance.  Tamol stood silently as Farren and the men of his band approached.  They were not outfitted as warriors, some of the men carried tools suited for pulling green shoots from the ground.  Others held hastily made weapons and a few were empty-handed.

“You thought to carry this battle upon your own shoulders?” Farren’s eyes measured Tamol and found him lacking. 

Tamol’s dry laughter was his only response.  Farren narrowed his eyes as was his way and then he gestured to the men that followed him.  “We are here to add our pledge to yours.”

“I have not yet given my pledge to fight.” Tamol was shocked to see two of his other sons approach carrying spears better used for hunting than fighting.  Without another word Tamol cursed and turned to walk away.  All eyes turned to Farren. 

“He does not like to admit when he is wrong.”  Farren easily summed up Tamol’s fit of anger and dismissed it with a shrug of his shoulders.  “Tell me how you plan to win this fight that is to come.”

Kaichen stepped forward to speak to Farren but not before turning to search Pele’s
eyes.

“
If my father was standing here he would instruct me to gather the women together and hide them during the battle.” Pele cleared his throat as Kaichen’s eyes measured him. 

It surprised Pele that he stood taller and fought the urge to puff out his chest under Kaichen’s withering stare.  Pele wondered how he
had ever considered it a good idea to challenge Kaichen for the woman that he claimed as his own.  The urge to shuffle his footsteps returned as Kaichen silently stared at him. 

“Like a grain of sand caught between the loincloth of a runner.” Antuk shook his head as the others turned to stare at him. 

Amara knew that this might be the last time that she stared into Kaichen’s face.  He had taken her with gentleness and tender care, making her feel valued and beautiful.   

After
claiming her as his wife and lifemate, Kaichen made a promise that she would never forget. “I will never call you beautiful, for it is a word that causes anger to rise within your heart.  But you will always be my desert flower, my Amaranth and in this way you will know that you are the mate to my spirit.  I will hold you close as the beloved of my heart and I will vow to stand by your side when we are both as old as the land of our birth.”  Kaichen’s promise caused tears to well in Amara’s eyes. 

His insight touched her in ways that she could not fully express, only her mother had understood her need to be recognized for the person that she was inside, instead of her outward appearance.  Kaichen saw into her heart with understanding and it was this that drew Amara closer to him.  She blinked to clear her gaze as Kaichen spoke to Pele, drawing her attention back to the present. 

“You will make certain that my mother and my wife are hidden in a secure place, far out of harm’s way.” Kaichen spoke to Pele as the man nodded sagely and strode away.

Kaichen gave Antuk simple instructions
that would see him through the coming battle.  “Aim only at the men that ride with raiders, try not to hit the men that fight our enemies with us.”